Even the most casual sports enthusiast knows that Spike Lee is more than just a basketball fan. Lee's combative but respectful interactions with a generation of Knicks opponents made those games mandatory viewing, and his modern basketball fable He Got Game taught us that even though it can get dirty, the spirit of the Game in the soul of its players is all that matters after the money is counted. That capital-G Game is what Lee and his willing subject Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant try to capture in Kobe Doin' Work, airing commercial-free Saturday night on ESPN. For the non-basketball fans, this might be Lee's least accessible work since Bamboozled, but for lovers of the round ball, this is as close as you will ever get to balling in Kobe's size 14's.
Inspired by a Cannes screening of Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, a sports doc that focused on French legend Zinedine Zidane for an entire soccer game, Lee documents an April 2008 Lakers game in more or less real time from thirty different angles, most of which are tight on the face, the shooting arm or the constantly-running mouth of Bryant. There are wide shots and black-and-white freeze frames to underscore the replay-worthy moments from Bryant -- a clutch three-pointer, a tough shot in the lane -- but this is not a highlight reel. It's Kobe-on-Kobe, breaking down his own game, but spending most of the time talking about his teammates and the team philosophy he shares with coach Phil Jackson.
Philosophy is an important word here, because on the surface, Kobe Doin' Work is more about Bryant's head than his heart. There are a few snippets where he expresses disappointment over a play, but the title of the film isn't Kobe Havin' Regrets. The emotional center of the film is somewhere in the editing, between the somewhat random but appreciated uses of fellow basketball enthusiast Bruce Hornsby's piano score, to the way Lee refuses to show the rest of the floor, even if Bryant isn't directly involved in the play. This documentary has relatively little structure, which makes ESPN's decision to premiere it commercial-free all the smarter because there are no clear act breaks. I remember seeing Michael Jordan to the Max on massive IMAX screen nine years ago, but that collection of career highlights and interviews feels like a basic SportsCenter tribute package compared to this character study.
Near the end of the film, Lee gets (audibly) involved in the conversation, as Bryant is no longer in the game (the Lakers had a sizable lead) and seems to be losing steam with his commentary. Hearing Lee express his enthusiasm for the Game (echoing the intelligent armchair analysis in his book Best Seat in the House) makes me pray that the DVD release of Kobe Doin' Work contains a commentary track from the director. It's Bryant's film, to be sure, and while Spike subordinated his penchant for direct-address epithet-filled montages or 360-degree camera rolls to focus on unadorned athletic genius, there's an auteur with courtside seats just off-mic who has more to say. Rating (out of 10): 7.5